Phagosomal escape of <i>L. monocytogenes</i> in macrophages treated with simvastatin.

<p>(A) BMDM were treated overnight with simvastatin (100 µM) ± mevalonate (100 µM) and infected with either <i>L. monocytogenes</i> or LLO mutant <i>L. monocytogenes</i> (MOI=10) for 1 hour. After 12 hours, viable bacilli were determined. (B) Representative images showing actin tails (white arrows) and phagosomal escape (white circles) in simvastatin-treated and control macrophages followed by quantification during the course of Listeria infection (Scale bar = 10µm). Production of LLO secreted by Listeria in presence of indicated concentrations of simvastatin measured by (C) ELISA and confirmed by (D) Western blot analysis. Results are shown as mean ± SEM of triplicate cultures and are representative of two or three independent experiments, * <i>p</i> < 0.05, ** <i>p</i> < 0.01 and *** <i>p</i> < 0.001 versus control.